Paratuberculosis.
Abstract
Paratuberculosis. C Cocito , P Gilot , M Coene , M de Kesel , P Poupart and P Vannuffel Microbiology and Genetics Unit, University of Louvain, Medical School, Brussels, Belgium. SUMMARY Paratuberculosis (Johne's disease) is a chronic, wasting, widespread mycobacteriosis of ruminants. It involves extensive mycobacterial shedding, which accounts for the high contagiousness, and ends with a fatal enteritis. Decreases in weight, milk production, and fertility produce severe economic loss. The DNA of the etiological agent (Mycobacterium paratuberculosis) has a base composition (66 to 67% G+C) within the range of that of mycobacteria (62 to 70% G+C), a size (4.4 x 10(6) to 4.7 x 10(6) bp) larger than that of most pathogenic mycobacteria (2.0 x 10(6) to 4.2 x 10(6) bp), and a high relatedness (> 90%) to Mycobacterium avium DNA. However, the DNAs of the two organisms can be distinguished by restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis. M. paratuberculosis genes coding for a transposase, a cell wall-associated protein (P34), and two heat shock proteins have been cloned and sequenced. Nucleic acid probes (two of which are species specific) are used, after PCR amplification, for M. paratuberculosis identification in stools and milk. As in leprosy, with disease progression, cellular immune reactions decrease and humoral immune reactions increase. Cutaneous testing with sensitins, lymphocyte proliferation assays, and cytokine tests are used to monitor cellular immune reactions in paratuberculosis, but these tests lack specificity. Complement fixation, immunodiffusion, and enzymometric tests based on antibodies to M. paratuberculosis extracts, to mycobacterial antigen complex A36, to glycolipids, and to proteins help identify affected cattle but are not species specific. The carboxyl-terminal portion of the 34-kDa cell wall-associated A36 protein (P34) carries species-specific B-cell epitopes and is the basis for an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Diagnostic tests for paratuberculosis are also used in Crohn's disease, a chronic human ileitis mimicking Johne's disease, in which isolates identified as M. paratuberculosis have been found. CiteULike Connotea Delicious Digg Facebook Google+ Mendeley Reddit StumbleUpon Twitter What's this? « Previous | Next Article » Table of Contents This Article doi: 10.1128/CMR.7.3.328 Clin. Microbiol. Rev. July 1994 vol. 7 no. 3 328-345 » Abstract PDF Classifications Research Article Services Email this article to a colleague Similar articles in ASM journals Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in Web of Science Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of CMR Download to citation manager Reprints and Permissions Copyright Information Books from ASM Press MicrobeWorld Citing Articles Load citing article information Citing articles via Web of Science Citing articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Cocito, C. Articles by Vannuffel, P. Search for related content PubMed PubMed citation Articles by Cocito, C. Articles by Vannuffel, P. Related Content Load related web page information Social Bookmarking CiteULike Connotea Delicious Digg Facebook Google+ Mendeley Reddit StumbleUpon Twitter What's this? current issue October 2011, volume 24, issue 4 Alert me to new issues of CMR About CMR Subscribers Authors Reviewers Advertisers Inquiries from the Press Permissions & Commercial Reprints ASM Journals Public Access Policy CMR RSS Feeds 1752 N Street N.W. • Washington DC 20036 202.737.3600 • 202.942.9355 fax • journals@asmusa.org Print ISSN: 0893-8512 Online ISSN: 1098-6618 Copyright © 2011 by the American Society for Microbiology. For an alternate route to CMR .asm.org, visit: http://intl- CMR .asm.org | More Info» var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www."); document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E")); var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-5821458-6"); pageTracker._trackPageview();